Marginalised voices: resisting the privatisation of council housing in Glasgow

Abstract

This paper explores the opposition to housing stock transfer in Glasgow in the early 1990s. Taking the position of anti-transfer campaigners, it argues that transfer can be interpreted as a form of ‘privatisation’ involving a profound restructuring in the role of the state in a key heartland area of welfare provision. Using interviews from housing campaigners in Glasgow, the paper argues that the much-heralded rhetoric about housing stock transfer as promoting tenant choice is highly contentious and misleading. The paper includes by highlighting that dispite the move to transfer in Glasgow, there remains a significant campaign against transfer in other parts of the UK.

Keywords:

• Housing stock transfer
• Scotland
• Glasgow
• community participation
• privatisation

Acknowledgement

We would like to express our thanks to all of those people involved in the NO campaign in Glasgow who gave up their time to be interviewed. All names have been changed in order to protect confidentiality.